Chapter 248: Grandma, I Miss You So Much

A young girl in her twenties can take down a whole group of children by herself.

But at that same age, for her to want to win against so many children, how could it be easy?

There is no Sun Wukong, no Yang Jian, no Nezha, no Jiuyue, no Xiaotian Quan.

There is also no Golden Brick, no Jade Ruyi.

She is just herself, a six or seven-year-old Tang An.

Several children beat her, and although she strikes back viciously, biting blood out of someone's arm, it is inevitable that she is also bruised and battered, covered in injuries.

"Jinx, all you do is bite people, ptooey!"

"I'm never playing with her again, I'm going to tell my mom she bites people~"

"Still looking? Keep looking and I'll hit you again, you poor wretch abandoned by your own father!"

Tang An looks at her own small arms and legs and feels such hatred; she hates why she won't grow up, why she can't pin them down and beat them to death.

She climbs up from the ground, numbly and subconsciously walking toward home.

"Who cares about any father or mother."

"I have Grandma, I am not a child with no one to love me, I am not."

She talks to herself, her eye sockets red, yet she stubbornly refuses to let a single tear fall.

But if she goes back like this, she is afraid Grandma will inevitably lecture her again.

Tang An shakes her head, sometimes clear-headed, sometimes muddled.

"That's not right, I am Tang An, I am the grown-up Tang An."

"Grandma, Grandma."

Tang An suddenly laughs heartily; she can see Grandma.

She no longer cares how much her injuries hurt and hurries toward home.

The appearance of her old home is still just as she remembers it.

There is a courtyard, there are chickens being raised, there is a hand pump, there is... Grandma.

Grandma is still as she remembers, forty or fifty years old, currently bent over in the courtyard, feeding the chickens.

"Grandma?"

"Grandma!"

At that moment, Tang An wants to rush over regardless of everything and give Grandma a good hug.

Even if she says nothing at all, just hugging Grandma would be enough to satisfy her.

Grandma seems to hear Tang An's call and turns her head back.

But when she turns her head, she does not see Tang An's figure.

"This child, where has she gone to play again."

Saying this, Grandma even calls out, "Don't run too far, we'll be eating in a while."

Tang An listens to Grandma's voice and looks at Grandma's appearance, yet she cannot look back at her.

Between the two of them, it is as if there is a barrier. No matter how she calls out or how she pounds, she cannot break through that invisible barrier before her eyes.

"It's me, Grandma. I'm here, I'm right here!"

"Grandma..." Tang An desperately pounds the barrier, wanting Grandma to hear her, but Grandma cannot hear a sound at all.

"Grandma!"

"Grandma, I'm here!"

"Look at me, Grandma! Grandma!"

Tang An screams in a breakdown, her emotions gradually spiraling out of control.

"Where is my Golden Brick, where is my Magic Treasure?"

"Wukong, Yang Jian, Nezha..."

She wants to ask for help, she wants someone to be able to pull her out; she does not want to be trapped in this wretched place.

She is so scared, truly so scared.

At the same time, in Huanghua Temple.

Tang An is also calling their names, her tone so helpless, tears sliding down the corners of her eyes continuously.

"This is bad, the Heart Demon has begun to affect her mind."

Yang Jian is also anxious, but Sun Wukong has not returned yet, and the Jade Emperor has not come down either. He must stand guard and act as a Dharma Protector for Nezha.

Nezha grips Tang An's hand a little tighter, "I'm here, I'm right here."

His eyes are full of heartache.

Because he can best understand that kind of helplessness, that helplessness when facing a desperate situation and wanting someone to appear and help you.

But Tang An cannot hear his voice.

Tang An also cannot feel his warmth.

Tang An only feels cold, a very, very deep cold, a cold that seems to enter the marrow.

She curls up sitting at the doorway of her childhood home, hugging herself tightly.

She is only ten steps away from Grandma in the courtyard.

But these ten steps are just like two different worlds, a chasm she cannot cross.

"Grandma... I miss you so much..."

She leans her head helplessly against the barrier, feeling as aggrieved as a child.

Grandma seems to sense something, turns her head back, and looks toward the doorway.

And at this very instant, a suction force suddenly comes from behind Tang An.

Before she could react, she felt as if she had arrived in a hazy, chaotic place.

There was no sky here, no earth; she seemed to be in the air, yet also in the water.

Sounds from the outside world kept drifting into her ears.

"What's wrong with a girl? What's bad about a girl? Why do you want to abort her?"

"I don't care, she is my child, I will not abort her."

This voice was gentle yet carried a sense of resilience. Tang An felt as if she had heard this voice before, yet it was also so unfamiliar.

"Mom?"

Tang An did not know where she was, or why she could hear her mother's voice.

"What 'Pandi'?"

"What kind of old fossils are you people? Why should my daughter be named something like 'Pandi' or Zhaodi?"

"Fine, so your Wang family won't acknowledge her, is that it?"

"From today on, my daughter will take my surname; her surname is Tang!"

"To hell with Zhaodi or Pandi, I just want my daughter to be safe and sound. From now on, her name is Tang An, and none of you are allowed to bully her!"

A tear slid down her face, and she reached out to touch her cheek.

"Is it me crying? Or is Mom crying?"

She could hear the trembling anger and grievance in that voice. Yet, that voice remained firm, insisting on giving her a proper name.

"So, this is what it feels like to be protected by one's mother?"

"But why... why was it me who caused my mother's death? Why?"

Who was she asking? No one could answer.

But a voice appeared in her mind.

"Because you are the Destined One, a person chosen by Destiny. Your fate was too heavy for her to bear."

"Giving birth to you was her destined fate. Once you were born, her fate reached its end."

"Who's there!"

Tang An looked all around, but could not see anyone present.

"I am you, and you are me."

"Stop acting so profound in front of me, come out!"

A black shadow appeared; it was the image of Tang An as an infant.

"Look, we've reached the delivery room; you are about to be born, and she is about to die."

A scene appeared before Tang An: a hospital in the nineties, the scene inside a delivery room.

She could see a woman in labor lying on a hospital bed, her face pale from pain, preparing for the birth.

Outside the delivery room stood a man and a woman in her fifties.

"Pah, giving birth to a money-losing piece of trash!"

"Later, while she's just given birth and can't move, hurry up and throw the child away for me." The one speaking was that very old woman.

The man looked to be in his twenties, wearing glasses, looking weak and scholarly.

But the saying that scholars are often heartless was embodied right here.

"So stubborn, insisting on giving birth to this jinx; it would be better if she died."

Tang An exploded the moment she heard this.

With her intelligence, how could she not recognize that this was her father and grandmother?

"What did you say?"

"Say that again?"

Tang An wanted to rush over and punch that bastard, but just the same, she could not cross that invisible barrier.

The infant Tang An, covered in black Qi, said: "Do you know? Actually, he already has a mistress, and she is about to give birth too; they say it's a boy."

"That's why he is hoping for both mother and daughter to die, so he can marry a new bride."